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Monday 2 December 2013

Adventures in Sewing #5 - clutch purse

With two failed dresses under my belt (or in the charity bin) plus a botched skirt remake I'm thinking I need to find a different approach to my sewing efforts.

I decided a few weeks ago to "try" and make a stretch skirt at home - enough of dresses that won't fit. The pattern is simple enough but my machine just WOULD NOT come to the party. I didn't even get anywhere near sewing the skirt - the machine just kept "eating" the fabric and doing all sorts of dodgy stitches.  I tweaked all the settings I could think of but still no luck. Best to take a deep breath and walk away I think...


I then decided to abandon stretch altogether (for now).  I'm attempting to make a circle skirt...except for it's too small even though the pattern measurement say it should fit. I'm going to keep going with it...for practice, but again it's another unwearable project. I think I will attempt to make this again and increase the pattern size by adding 1cm to each of the edges.  Hopefully that will work.

Who ever said sewing was fun needs a smack up the side of the head. 


Despite all the tears, I do want to keep sewing as I'm sure I'll get the hang of it sooner...or later.  I just think I need to take a break from clothing. I'm considering making a quilt (or is that just asking for trouble?) but I decided to make a small craft project  to start with - a clutch purse.

After days of stalking Pinterest I finally found a tutorial that didn't make my brain want to explode with instructions I couldn't quite picture in my head.


The time it takes to whip up one of these purses is hardly no time at all so I thought I could add a little bit of interest (and time) to the purse project by sewing a cute little heart onto the front of the purse. The problem with my sewing wants is that I want projects that aren't too quick to complete. Honestly who needs 100 coin purses floating around (this is why I think quilting could be good - it must take AGES to churn out a quilt).


The inside of the purse is make from some polka dot cotton remnants I have leftover from a half-made Laurel dress from a class over the weekend. The lining and the outer bag aren't sewn together on this inside bottom half so I need to think about how I can make this neater on the inside...


Don't look too closely to the handle - what a MESS! I bought a sew in purse frame as I thought it would be more sturdy and long-lasting BUT I decided to glue in the fabric before sewing. Yep. And sewing in the frame was so painful! I bruised my thumb and index finger so much that typing the next day at work was painful.


It's not perfect but it's finished and I enjoyed myself enough to give this project another go...so watch this space.

Happy sewing, Melanie xoxo

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